Scribbler Love: Corinna Rogers

You know that excellent fizzy feeling you get when you see someone you know succeed?

Happiness Fireworks!

This is the feeling I get when I see one of my Wells sisters snag a sweet taste of success. I am so pumped for this book I had to throw it some scribbler love before it's release later this month. As a fan of smut and smut of the paranormal persuasion, it's already on my Amazon wish list.
My hat's off to you Ms. Rogers, I can't wait to read your debut novel!

Squee!

Fails, Successes, and Sacrifice

August turned into a month of ups and downs.
I started the month with high hopes of resurrecting New Earth Six, getting some new projects under way, and school beginning at month's end.
I even signed on for WeSeWriMo once again this year, setting myself an impressive goal which I spectacularly failed to meet, and  began a series of horror stories on Wattpad.
Let's get the bummer stuff out of the way:
*I wanted to catch up with NE6, planning to update the site and post at least 8 new chapters. I managed 2, on actual Fridays, though one was half-assed enough to demand a revision by the end of the weekend.
*Despite an excellent start, I haven't posted more to the horror story since the beginning of the month.
*I wanted to finish my Zombies vs Aliens novel, I have estimated roughly seven chapters to wrap up the story but, confession time, I didn't touch it once this whole blasted month.

Disappointment is better with cuteness

This month felt like a big fat fail in the writing department. If I am honest with myself, my writing had a lot of competition for my attention. Mid August brought my husband's pilgrimage to Gen Con,  the end result being an entire week alone with my children. No breaks, no free time, it is a week of exhaustion and exasperation. I love my children very much but, holy hell, I was ready to tear my hair out by the end. The third week of August, I finally landed a part time job to ease the financial pressure of the household. Not wanting to give up my much loved side job, I am now working two part time jobs, and work seven days a week.
I am not sure how long I can keep this pace, but the hours are what we need and the money don't hurt. It is not a stellar job, it's dry cleaning, but you do what you have to. The schedule is one my equilibrium is still adjusting to but I am able to throw my kid on the bus in the morning, spend a few hours with my toddler and hopefully some scribbling, before going in to work through the afternoon, coming home to make dinner and help put the kids to bed. It's not perfect, but it will do.

Despite all the crazy, I did manage a few successes.
*Can I just say, you get by with a little help from your friends? Thanks to some of the dazzling ladies I know, I snagged a new cover photo for NE6, and finally, FINALLY, have a navigation menu for the site that is absolutely perfect. My life is full of computer wizards.

Bam motha feckers!

*While I failed to meet my goals, I did start up NE6 once again after nearly a 8 month hiatus. I hope I can overcome the end of August hiccup it suffered and keep it going. I have big plans and tons of ideas for the story if I can keep the drive alive.
* I have had lots of new plots pop into my head, scribbling down ideas and scenes for new stories throughout the month. I have nearly 100 handwritten pages toward a new series.
I may not have been productive in the direction I wanted to be, but I have continued to scribble and keep those imagination muscles flexed. I hope the fall becomes a productive one *fingers crossed*

Push and Pull

It has been an interesting few months. By some miracle I have managed to keep on tract with writing almost everyday, though not on the pieces I expected.
I am still trying to find traction with New Earth Six, I can feel the story there, I still have ideas cropping up of where to take the characters, but I have not been able to motivate myself to sit down and pound it out.I finally finished editing the hard copy of NE6 Part 1, but have not done the computer edits and formatting.
Perhaps it isn't about finding motivation, because my writing method is an odd process that circles back on itself.
Prime example: I dropped my zombie novel for months, finally coming back to it last week with a clear road map to the novel's end. Before that happened I penned out sixty plus pages of long hand for a new YA series and started a horror mini series on wattpad.

Madhouse: Lunacy

I have yet to find a suitable beginning for my long time brainchild series but I have started keeping a notebook of scenes and ideas. Someday it will come to fruition with the other plots I have been sitting on for years. I theorize it just needs enough time to stew in my imagination before coming to life.
I might even find a way to fix my white whale, the YA novel that has been sitting in flux on my editing shelf for years.
I have so many unfinished projects, so many beginnings without endings it is discouraging. I think if I can finish one project this summer, others will start falling into place, like dominoes, and then I will have tons of full drafts to fiddle with.

Brain Fart-knots

Sometimes when I'm coming out of a dry spell of creativity I spend about a week or two of sleepless nights, aimless internet surfing, and staring at the ceiling in the dark.

(This is not always a good thing as I have that pesky over active imagination.)

It's not necessarily procrastination because I'll stop and scribble things down to remember later. It's like popping the cork on a bottle of champagne after jumping up and down on a trampoline for eight hours with it. Ideas are just wildly fizzing out everywhere, bubbles of creativity are popping through my synapses, clogging up my concentration. I want to do everything at once, therefore getting nothing done at all.  Even my attempts to catch up on sleep are taking a hit. I tried to nap today and bolted up with a Eureka moment for a novel I've been working on for years. This is like a brain explosion, or more accurately Fart-knots. Too many ideas, dammit! I'm pulling myself in 9 different directions. Goal of the week: find a balance, take deep breathes, do not face plant on keyboard.

(Warning: The creative juices may increase flatulence of the mind)

Finding my scribbles and inner fluff again...

If you couldn't tell, it's been a while since I posted. This does not mean I haven't been writing posts but when they started repeating the same gloom and doom I chose not to publish them. Truth be told, I have spent the last few months as a Slug, wallowing in depression and doubt. In general, I don't like to talk about my depression. I will write about it, but I keep the bulk of my gloom to myself. This time it was a double whammy of depression and my hormones literally being on the fritz, requiring meds to balance them back out. (Funny how once I got on hormone meds my depression started to level out. *sigh*)

The winter was not a good one. Aside from being mentally sick, I was physically sick repeatedly while dealing with some stressful revelations. Realizing I have no idea how I am going to pay my college loans is a biggie, while my son's official label of educational autism is expected but still feels like a punch in the gut. I pretty much stopped writing completely, even my serial as I sunk deep. I made a half hearted attempt to get back in the game around February or so but couldn't maintain the drive. I needed a serious kick in the pants to get out of this mental sinkhole.

So I went to Arizona.

Look, it's a cactus. *giggle*

Arizona had two big enticements. 1. I would have free room and board for my stay, courtesy of the Divine Ms. Angie. 2. It would be my first vacation, actual out and out vacation, without my children or husband in five years.

Myself and the Divine Ms. Angie atop Mt. Graham

Heading out west to see Angie had another big enticement. She is living her dream, with four published books under her belt. It has not been an easy road for her, but she is doing it and her drive inspires me. I have also had input on all four of her books, providing feedback on content. She is the one contact I have kept close with from my foray into grad school, and I am thankful we connected.



I flew out mid April, discovering over the rapid succession of three flights I do indeed get motion sickness. (blech) I spent roughly four days eating good food, sleeping in, seeing the sights, and generally relaxing. Angie lives at the base of Mt. Graham, which boasted several climates and one hell of a breathtaking view at 10,000 ft. I was pampered with my own bed, homemade waffles, and some of the beast Mexican food I have ever had. I even got to drink, guilt free, which is a rare treat in itself.

I don't often take food pics, but booze!

Apparently I am a pirate in my selfies

It wasn't a trip to the spa or an exotic location but it left me more relaxed than I have been in months. It also set some sparks going. It hasn't been easy, but in the couple weeks I've been back, aside from getting slammed with another massive stomach bug, I have felt the creative juices beginning to thaw. I have set myself up with a list of goals to work on and I have begun line editing again.

My biggest goal is to start up New Earth Six in full during the month of May.
I have a back log of ideas I have been scribbling down and bits and pieces I wrote here and there that need a little nurturing to blossom. Between editing and reading other people's work, I have made some leeway in editing Part 1. Goal number 2 is to finish drafting Zombies vs. Aliens. I am excited about this. If I can get this book finished and out, I have a small series planned for it.

The going is slow. I still have to push myself to accomplish anything every day. Some days are more productive than others, but I'm crawling out of my hole, hand over hand.

Climbing back on the horse

After stumbling along through the month of November, trying to do Nanowrimo *nope* and keep up with NE6 I smashed up against the brick wall of doing too much.

This was compiled with a non vacation vacation. My husband and I took the family to see the relatives who inhabit the Southern states. I remember packing my notebooks and laptop, thinking I would manage to get some writing done either in the car or perhaps in my parents idyllic Tennessee home.
*Nope*

I seem to somehow forget I am the mother of two hyperactive boys, one a toddler, the other borderline Autistic. None of the southern relatives have spent enough time around the boys to understand what we were bringing into their home. How they get into EVERYTHING. Of the three houses we visited none were M&G proof, meaning my husband and I had no time to ourselves. Over the entire week vacation we didn't even get to sleep in the same bed together, having to split the kids to get them to sleep each night.
Aside from the need for constant vigilance at each home, there was the hellish experience of long distance driving with carsick children. The first leg was the worst, as we discovered dramamine has no effect on the toddler, who vomited repeatedly, which I had to clean up repeatedly. By day two we worked out an equilibrium of rest breaks. However this made each car trip to a new destination longer...

The end result of our "vacation" was mind numbing exhaustion and body aches from a myriad of sleeping arrangements. I felt like utter crap when I got home, and had to muster the energy to review a book for feedback for a friend, which ate up another couple days.

Suffice to say, NE6 fell the the wayside. I have been late to post before, but never for more than a couple weeks. Today I am hoping to make up for lost time, post a nice long chapter, update some content and hope my readers can forgive the longer than intended hiatus ><

An Elite Member of the Zombie Horde

I have been pitter pattering away for NaNoWriMo, though some days are more productive than others. I don't know if I will make the daunting word count as of yet, but I will give it a fair go. I know if I am really going to make a run at this, I will have to sacrifice my most precious commodity to achieve my mad scribbling goal: sleep.
Despite my best efforts, my production during the day is not what it should be, I get what I can done, but it's not easy clacking away on the keyboard with a child who wants and needs your attention. While my children are awesome at playing by themselves I find myself chasing after them for snuggling because they are young and there are only so many years of snuggle time in them. I take it where I can get it. Perhaps if I can sacrifice an hour of sleep here and there, because lord knows I never wake up before they do, then the novel will happen, just with more coffee.
How ironic is it my subject matter is zombies this year :P

Will Share for Entries >.>

I follow a few literary review blogs. Because reading is an addiction like cocaine but not as many nosebleeds, I am just putting this little gem right here. Not only is sharing caring, but sharing =brownie points/entries for more potential goodies. Ann Aguirre writes some seriously badass sci fi romance (<3 Jax) sooo yes I am interested in this trilogy. Win or not, this is going on the 'to read' shelf.  Nomnomnom.

Click Meh!

NaNoWriMo: aka Writing Revitalization

I've been bad. This month has been the slumpiest of slumps writing wise. I've been having trouble concentrating on much of anything. The only project I've managed to keep successfully going is New Earth 6, still pumping out my weekly chapter, though I have been floundering with the side mini series I was hoping to post.
It's just been a rough month. Mentally I've checked out. I have been reading and thinking, thinking and reading. My many works in progress have hit construction difficulties. I need a good zap to the system to get up and running again. Big huge goals sometimes get me up and moving so I shall be throwing myself into the ring for another lively round of Nanowrimo!
It's just the kick in the pants I need to get myself back in the ring. I've set up my writer's page, chosen the project I am going to focus on, (Zombies vs. Aliens SHAZAM!), and aside from editorial duties, I shall be joining the furious festival of scribbling. Check out the awesome-ness! Anyone else doing it? Want to be my writing buddy? *grin*
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/krazydiamond/novels/zombies-vs-aliens

The Bookcase Challenge

My husband teased me the other day when I started squealing over a new book coming out.

"You have tons of books on you haven't read!"

He's right. It is one of my bad habits. Husbands are good at spotting those.
I have a book addiction. There are worse addictions, like crack, or hookers and blow. My book addiction is a complicated monster. I hoard books like there is no tomorrow, I own a lot of movies too but books take up the primary spot in our tiny household, overflowing from five (and a half) bookcases, two boxes and various flat surfaces in the house. There are piles of books on both our computer desks, a small library usually hiding in our car, piled up near the back door, and a tottering stack on the computer tower.
That's not counting the kids books.

My reading style is...odd. I often read multiple books at once, either because of my editing job or I need a break from an intense plot line. If I am into a book, I fly through it, if I struggle with a book, it takes me forever. I can put a book down for months and usually pick it up later right where I left off. But my book habit has a dark side, i.e. the hoarding. This problem really took off when I started working in used books. I couldn't do the same amount of impulsive buying working at Borders because then it would be like hookers and blow. Both the used bookstores I've manned gave me access to incredibly cheap books, add to that my habit of lurking in thrift stores and flea markets, I would bring home piles of books and forget about them.

I think subconsciously I was stocking up for the apocalypse or something (how appropriate) but I stumbled onto realization/ enlightenment when I finished reading a stack of books a friend let me borrow. I was searching for a palate cleanser and went for some good ole' YA by reading the newest series by Riordan. It was about halfway through rereading The Lost Hero when I remembered I owned the third book for a while now but had not read it. How long have I owned The Mark of Athena you ask? Well I picked it up when it first came out. about a YEAR ago. I've had it so long, book four comes out this week...

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So here is to the Bookcase Reading Challenge. Excluding the new books by favorite authors, (because that is cruel and unusual punishment) I am going to begin plowing through the unread beauties on my groaning bookcases. It is time!

Muffin Manifesto

Too many posts have been me whining about my writing difficulties.
*Puts issues in a box*
*Smashes them with a hammer*
Yisssssssss

Fuck the downer mcdowner b.s. I shall divert my attentions and energies to doing something productive, and mildly economical. Baking.

I secretly love baking and cooking, I don't do nearly enough of it in my apartment because I not so secretly hate cleaning and our craptastic living space has no dishwasher. *HORROR*

Between the four of us, dishes have a habit of breeding fast and overflowing the counters in the blink of an eye. But in an attempt to save money, and satisfy my craving for baked goods, I have taken it upon myself to try and make a batch of delicious muffins once a week. I had the craving to bake hit me last week and made Chocolate chip muffins and Apple cinnamon muffins. Nomnomnom. It seems like an attainable goal, I have a horde of baking supplies plus there are two very good reasons to bake. 1. I have two muffin trays, so might as well use them. 2. Muffins.

/

Seriously?

So this morning, when the kids got me staggering out of bed at Crack of Ass A.M. I rolled up my sleeves and washed dishes. Once I had a livable kitchen space, I proceeded to make maple bacon muffins, which are as orgasmic as they sound. Of course, as I was putting the batter into the cups, my husband walked in the door with a box of donuts from Dn'D.

I told the bugger I was making them, but whatever. He can stuff his face with crappy pre-made donuts and I shall devour my delicious homemade muffins.

BAM!

Buck Up, Fussypants!

Self doubt has a habit of cropping up at really inappropriate moments. My brain tends to be a minefield for stuff like this, for example when I am close to finishing a project or am cheering on a friend who just had some awesome success in their endeavors. It is about this time some pretty depressing thoughts rear their ugly faces, peppering my brain with doubts about my writing, my creativity, my chances for success. I know these thoughts are ridiculous. I know I am not alone in doubting my artistic ability. Every artist who puts themselves out there is taking the same risk. When I feel like this, especially while a friend is experiencing some much deserved success, I duck my head and bite my tongue because I don't want to take away a smidgen of that feeling if it kills me.

When I hit this whirlpool of emotional stupidity, I worry I don't have a thick enough skin to dive into today's close encounters publishing environment. The whole Goodreads bullies fiasco? Christ do I want to really put myself in a Readers vs Authors environment? Or endure the feeling of tossing my e-book in the maelstrom of Amazon which pumps out thousands of self published books every day?

I admit, I have a crippling lack of self confidence. My e-book project, which should have been put out weeks ago, is currently sitting on my top shelf, glaring at me. "What's the hold up, sweet cheeks?" It snarls at me (because most of the animate objects in my apartment are tough guys) "Listen you demeaning ream of paper," I yell at it (don't judge, I am alone with a toddler for most of the day) "I am doing my best here, I am under a lot of pressure right now, from finances and time, and I have other things I am working on, it's not all about you!" It sighs in flagrant disgust and sneers "Keep making excuses and you'll never finish anything."

My surly e-book is right. I keep pushing my personal deadlines further and further back for no good reason. This morning I am struggling to finish a current chapter for New Earth 6, which I surprisingly started earlier in the week. What I don't understand is why I am struggling so hard with self doubt. My serial is experiencing a modicum of success. I had a couple great reviews which have generated an awesome amount of site traffic. The whole point of doing the serial was to create a confidence booster and force myself to share my work. God Dammit woman, BUCK THE FUCK UP!

I don't know what it will take to snap me out of my funk. The best solution is to face forward and keep working.

Behold! New Earth's New Face!

A recent review of the sci fi serial prompted me to give New Earth 6 a serious face lift. The reviewer had a valid point, the starry background made it harder to read the text. So, I went in for a much simpler cleaner design with a new header designed by my West Coast contact *wink wink*

Behold the new, the improved, the bold New Earth Six!

The Sci Fi Chick: Be it Wars or Trek, I love me some Stars

So this morning I woke up to another lovely review for New Earth 6
It had me squealing with girly glee because I am entering the six month mark for keeping the serial up and running. Though I am behind with some of the things I want to do with it, like finish edits for part 1 or hell, just keeping my universal translator up to date *I am so fail*, I have managed to meet my Friday deadline. Truth, I do spend a lot of my Fridays working all day on a chapter  but that is beside the point. *shhhh don't judge me*

However this review sparked an interesting debate/ internal revelation regarding my influences for New Earth 6. The review remarks how the piece has a Trekky feel. I giggled when I read that, but honestly I would be lying if I denied Star Trek's influence on my work. Most of my science fiction influence comes from watching Star Wars and Star Trek with my father. Confession time, I love both Wars and Trek, both have a hand in influencing my story telling style in different ways.

Star Wars I love for it's grand scale epic story telling. The over arching hero's journey, redemption of evil, corruption of good, rogue heroes, all wrapped up in a setting as medieval as it is technologically advanced. There is a lot on the line in the Star Wars Universe, the big bad is so very big, end of freedom in the galaxy kind of big and the good guys have the odds stacked against them, scrappers and underdogs the lot of them. Star Wars taught me no matter how far out there and wild your setting may be, if your characters are strong, they will pull the audience to the ends of the galaxy and back.

Then we come to Star Trek. *Side Note, I don't understand why trekkies get picked on more than star wars fans, for the love of sci fi, can't we all just get along?* Star Trek has a different medium of story telling than Star Wars. Yes both series have an ass load of books, but visually, Star Trek struts its story telling for Television audiences, and has an epic scale on its own in a very different way. The story telling style of Trek varies from series to series, not really developing a sense of an over arching story line until the beauty that is Deep Space Nine. But what Star Trek did do different was pull us into a multitude of alien cultures, down to a very intimate scale (okay yes, very intimate when it comes to Klingon mating rituals).

While the books of Star Wars take you more in depth to the universe, Star Trek's television medium allowed for an upfront display, creating worlds, cultures, people, some so detailed we learned their mythology. The cultures of Star Trek also resonate with cultures from our own history, though remain alien, different. Star Trek also has a special place in my heart, in particular Next Gen and DS9, because of the complex web of galactic politics and turmoil they weave, especially DS9. The Big Bads of the Star Trek universe are also diverse, bearing different motivations and resolutions. We are given examples of big bads who become close allies right alongside the terrifying unstoppable, irredeemable entities (oh Borg baby!).  I would say Star Trek taught me a lot about world building, and world building over time at that, the benefits of the slow build.

My influences don't stop there (*cough Firefly cough*). I have been a reader and watcher of sci fi and fantasy since I was a wee little lass. I find I have grown up to be a bit of a genre scrambler, weaving elements of several genres together in my work. New Earth Six is a sci fi setting, but there are hints of mythological fantasy, frontier western, and high adventure thrown in the mix, among others.

As a writer, I think it's important to acknowledge our influences. When someone enjoys your work, you need to give a nod to the shoulders you stand on, to the art which nurtured and fed the budding storyteller within, because someday, if things go your way, you could be the influence of someone else.

Sometimes I wish for a yurt...

I love being able to work from home. Truthfully, it is not easy, some days motivation is miles away, the kids are clamoring and clingy and I get nothing done despite the internal and external deadlines looming over me. It's days like that I wish for a place to vanish to, somewhere separate from our messy distraction filled apartment.
I wish I had a writing hut, or a yurt. This actually exists, Neil Gaiman, who is a favorite writing celebrity of mine, has a writing hut. I am envious.

Look at this thing, it's freaking beautiful. I can just see myself foisting the children off on my husband as I slip away to my writing yurt for a day of relaxing production. I don't even need something this fancy, a simple shed would do, rough and rustic, as long as I could make it cozy like Mr. Roald Dahl's hideaway space here.

I could procure a mini generator so I have power, a space heater for winter, hole myself up in there and write for a few blissful undistracted hours. Alas, I must fight to concentrate with small hands reaching over the lap top screen, a little face craning over to see what noise my fingers are making. It's an interesting tradeoff. As much as I struggle to write/edit/ do anything computer based that requires actual concentration, I get to look up at the silly curious face of my son. It's frustrating and far from perfect, and maybe I will strive to own a yurt someday, but for now, I shall enjoy the opportunity to tickle my child when he leaves himself wide open, reaching over my computer screen.

A Gaming Vacation

Okay I'll admit it, this past week I have been nerding it up.

After a long but exciting summer of editing, writing and being with my two lovely but hyperactive children, I was feeling a bit burnt out around my birthday. So to keep my sanity intact, I invested in a MMORPG as a present to myself. For those not in the know that is Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Yes I spent a good chunk of years addicted to World of Warcrack, but since I resent monthly subscriptions, I purchased the one shot deal of Guild Wars 2 and dived into an intense play session. This was pretty much my version of a vacation, granted I will still play now that the week is over but I will split my time with other adult activities like my jobs, writing, home care etc.

Amazing game play, it's as epic as it looks ><

I came down from my gaming haze yesterday in order to finish my commitment to WeSeWriMo and conclude part 1 of New Earth 6 and send Malcolm off for his first day of Kindergarten *squee*. After this bloody long weekend of work (who the hell starts school on a Friday into a three day weekend!) the days will start to take on a rhythm since I will once again have just one munchkin over two. I will be able to devote more hours to editing and to finishing up some novels in progress as well as getting New Earth 6 out as an e-book and continuing the weekly saga. This morning I woke up to a glowing review on Web Fiction Guide, where I have listed my serial for a few months. It made my freaking week and had me blushing for a good hour. It also reinforced my determination to do an editing over haul for typos before putting up the e-book this week.

Big plans, big plans! September is going to kick off another busy month, but at least I have a new game to mess around with on those days I need a breather. Cheers!

Holy Shit I'm 28: Birthday Retrospect

"I wanted to buy a candle holder, but the store didn't have one. So I got a cake."

Mitch Hedberg

I'm not a birthday person, haven't been since I lost a parent a month before I turned 8. Something about death sucks all the fun out of the party. Twenty years later, I still associate birthdays with an odd bitter resentment. It wasn't until the last few years my outlook has started to change to something not so angst ridden. I think I now view birthdays with the same thought process I view New Year's. Birthdays have become synonymous with new beginnings, a time to reflect on the road thus far. 

This year has been a doozy, it was around my last birthday I was trying to pluck up the courage to run my life off its current tracks. I was working in a job I enjoyed but had no real advancement opportunity. I still might have stayed, I was in a bookstore, in my element, but there was the constant whisper. I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing, and I had trouble finding the energy to write after a long day of slinging books and caring for kids. I needed a change. By the end of summer I sat down with my boss and told him I was leaving, probably the scariest decision of the past several years. I had a few ideas of how to help support the family but there were two big driving forces behind the decision. One, I wanted to spend more time home with my children, and two, I wanted to seriously pursue writing. 

By November, I left my job of three years, started my oldest son in an intensive preschool program, aaaaaaand sputtered about. I'm not going to lie, the first couple months without work, I was in a bad way. I did not write ferociously, I tried and failed to get back into grad school (long painful story there), I became horrendously depressed and addicted to video games. I attempted substitute teaching and discovered I hated it, being thrust into a situation where the kids don't know or respect you, don't care about what you have to say, and treat you like crap is a special kind of misery. I respect anyone who sticks it out long enough to become a full blown teacher, because that is one hell of a gauntlet to go through. I managed to pick up a small shift at a local bookstore, one day a week, but it was extra income, got me out of the house, and kept me immersed in what I loved. 

By February, my husband began not so subtly prodding me to get another job, something, anything. This was not my proudest time. I was becoming a full blown recluse, I made a few halfhearted attempts to find work, trying to find something I could stomach. And I began working on the writing again, slowly dragging myself back into the process, amazed how awesome it felt to do so. It was during this month of slowly dragging myself back to the realm of the living, an idea took root in my mind, something I never tried before, something I wanted to do, to force writing into the spotlight. It didn't happen overnight, I chewed over the idea for a month and change before I sat down and penned my first chapter of New Earth Six. 

The end of March/ beginning of April is where this year really began to turn around. Once New Earth Six was up and running, I made it a point to write every day. No matter how unmotivated I found myself, I tried to do something. Don't get me wrong, some days I still did nothing, but the writing came easier, ideas began flowing again, and I felt motivated to do things again, even reading a friend's novel to give feedback. If you didn't know already, that decision lead to one of the best changes of my current adult life and definitely the high point of my year, when the act of helping a friend blossomed into a new job, once which makes me feel fantastic, it feels right. The summer also found me attempting some big commitments, writing wise, with the Clarion Write A Thon and WeSerWriMo. The results of both have been surprising and unexpected. The end of this month will also see another first for me, a big one, one I have been working years towards. I will definitely be releasing one title, the (short maybe?) E-book of New Earth 6 Part 1 and possibly (cross your fingers) another title I have been working on this summer. 

When I was young I used to day dream of becoming an author. I used to fantasize how I would be one of the rare people who published before they left high school. Looking back, I laugh and laugh and laugh at that dream. Writing is hard work, it is also a continuously changing and growing creature. My writing now is nothing like it was in high school (thank the gods) but for the first time since I had those dreams, I'm so close to seeing them realized, though with a humble perspective of the writing business and with a bit more wisdom than my teenage self possessed. 

In tribute to my gaming addiction ;)

New Earth Six Cover Reveal!

After hosting a poll on the NE6 blog, ala Polldaddy.com, between three cover art runner ups the final product is the muted but colorful cover #2!

This shall be the face of Part One's e-book! I should probably come up with a better name than Part One but I'm lazy.(yeah totally >.>)
Thank you to all who participated, the people have spoken, and other such sentiments. Seriously though soooo happy people took the time to vote .

I shall be promoting like crazy in the next few weeks with the release of this FREE E-book and hopefully the release of another covert secret project (TBA)

ON WITH THE SHOW!

Science Fiction, Double Feature, Picture Show

Sometimes aspects of real life feel surreal. This past week has featured a couple moments of "did that just happen?"

 

Nose Candy:

Thursday morning began as a typical day. After a night of restless tossing and turning, I woke with the kids shortly after the sun crept over the horizon. By the time the husband came home from work, I'd already manned the fort for a couple hours, and begged him for a reprieve before he retreated to the room for the day. This is our dance. My sleeping habits have grown progressively off kilter as of late, leaving me to negotiate for naps with Captain Third Shift, but I digress. I passed out only to wake up to the unholy caterwauling of our eldest, Malcolm, accompanied by the husband roaring my name. Stumbling out, brain about forty paces behind the rest of me, I find them struggling in the living room, Malcolm screeching like a banshee, limbs flailing, while his doting father attempts to peer up his nose. Uh oh. This can't be good. What has happened? Malcolm, in a moment of sheer brilliance has inserted a small piece of candy up his left nostril. Candy we have vacuumed our treacherous carpet for several times, but the bastards keep squatting in those wily fibers. It took our son five years to shove something up his nose, but he chose a winner. The candy was so small we could not see it, or feel it, to extract it. A call to the pediatrician revealed they didn't want to deal with it either, which left....the ER. Balls.

There is nothing worse than sitting in the ER with my son. Between his cat like attention span, utter lack of patience and the zero entertainment options of the facility, my morning was hosed. How much did I dread this visit? Enough to reconsider when he calmed down on the way out to the car. "It's candy," I grumble to myself, "It'll dissolve." But no, the doctor has warned we don't want that going through his nasal passage. Off to the ER we go. After a quick stay in the waiting room, (yay) we are lead to a sparse sterile exam room. After coaxing Malcolm through the usual vitals check in, we are left to our own devices, for an hour. There is nothing to distract my darling boy in this room. We sing, we play a few clapping games, I make animal sounds for him to identify (I can't imagine what the nurses are thinking walking by this closed room). This eats up thirty minutes.

With an inward wince I hand over my cell phone, letting him play with some inane app, watching the battery life slowly drain away. I let my mind wander, keeping his hands off the various expensive machines clustered in the corners. A doctor finally enters.

Malcolm's calm is a lie. Within moments, we have banshee revisited, in stereo since noise bounces like a sound stage in here. Despite an RN and myself pinning him down, the doctor cannot locate the sugary culprit. Their recommendation? They ask me to plug his nostril and blow in his mouth, hoping to pop it out.

What? I feel like I'm being punk'd. With deep reservations I proceed to perform this technique, (did they learn this from Looney Toons?). Malcolm rewards my efforts with a slobbery reverb, blowing back, as I realize I didn't brush his teeth before taking off for the ER this morning. The bloody doctors are chuckling at me, asking if I want to try again. Yeah, thrilled to. Because I'm a masochist I close in to try again, rewarded by a writhing fit of giggles from my son. Zero point zero results.

"Well, can't see anything, it will have to come out on its own. Just watch for drainage."
I want to throttle the lot of them. I want to throttle the pediatrician for sending us on this fruitless time sink. I want to throttle them all over again as they leave me waiting for another hour before realizing they haven't discharged us....

I don't know if the pain or the four hour ER visit has engrained the lesson into Malcolm's head. The end result of our migraine inducing visit was a day fully frazzled and exhausted, another vacuuming session of our carpet "tan treachery", and some lovely colored snot a day later. (Blue, if you're wondering.)

Bad Religion:

My husband and his mother are fighting again. It has been a slow build, the kind where you can tell he grinds his teeth every time she opens her mouth. I have stood, poised between them, my feet on shaky ground for years now. Without the kids and my attempts to bolster some kind of relationship between the family, I wonder if he would have dealt with her at all. While both of them have individuals issues, my husband and I can usually talk through and solve the problems between us. The mother- in -law uses religion.

Disclaimer: Religion in general is one of those hot button topics. I have many opinions on the subject, but I am open minded when it comes to religion as a whole. Religion, itself, is not bad, it comes down to the individual. To me, religion is a guideline, a moral code to live by. I respect religion, I respect faith and beliefs, I will not tell you your faith is wrong, or sneer at your belief structure, and I expect the same courtesy in return. My relationship with "faith" as a concept is complicated and could fill a whole post on its own. I am gratified to have many excellent examples of religious people in my life, people who I respect for their faith and beliefs. Sadly my mother in law in not one of them.

Why? Here is spark which lit the five alarm fire:
She has refused to help watch the boys while my husband participates in his gaming activities because the gods in his game represent false idols and are trying to lead him astray, down the path to hell.

My husband tried, he listened to her view point. He tried to explain it was a fantasy game (legend of the five rings) and he does not believe these gods exist. He even took the approach of people worshipping various faiths around the world. Her response was unflattering to anyone not of the born again Christian faith. He argued it was fantasy, made up, not real, but she refused to budge from her stance. When he countered she reads fantasy, she responded with "only Christian authors."

We are big gamers in this household. We both play D&D with our circle of friends, various RPGS and video games. Now our relatively innocent lifestyle is being snubbed by a case of bad religion. I have trouble taking her serious. I am also pretty freaking insulted. Yes, my husband is going to be out of town for his nerd convention, but I asked her to watch our children so I could go to work, not flaunt my pagan ways with a rousing session of dungeon crawling, worshipping the God of Thieves. This development in her faith is unsettling and is a recent mutation. What's more disturbing than her off the wall judgment is she doesn't believe us when we tell her we don't believe in these fantastical false idols.

I find myself between a rock and a hard place. Is there a manual to deal with this? I do not want to shut my mother in law out of the lives of her grandchildren but do I want to expose them to this kind of behavior? The fact this whole zany issue has driven a wedge into our family is uncomfortable, as if my skin is too tight to breathe in. I still have trouble believing this argument was real, that someone actually thinks this way. I guess I shall go back to writing my speculative fiction and further cement my place in hell.

So Much Time So Little to Do....Wait

Universal truth: There is never enough time.
I have been struggling with this feeling for the past two weeks. Every time I attempt to work on a task, be it housework, taking care of the kids, writing, working, this consuming feeling of needing to do everything at once is sucking me down.
I'm not sure if it's a matter of simple time management. I set aside so many hours in the day to work on a certain task, trying to find a balance for everything, but it seems like one or more facets of my life gets neglected, chores pile up, my writing becomes harder to focus on, my social life goes right out the window. It's this that or the other thing. There are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all the tasks I wish to. I know I'm not alone in this feeling, it plagues most grown adults.
I think I'm still trying to get my sea legs. This feels like a new phase in life, coming at warp speed, I'm losing sleep trying to keep my feet under me. August is going to be a difficult month but the rewards I seek to attain will be worth the struggle. I am finding a rhythm with line editing, it can still be time consuming, taking apart someone's work to create something better, stronger, new, but I think this is the most gratifying job I've ever had.
With my own work, the end of August will hopefully see the completion of the two novels I've been scribbling away at, and finishing the revisions of the YA Novel. August will also conclude the first part of the serial blog, and my participation in Web Serial Writing Month.

I will be juggling work with kids, Malcolm will be home for the month of August so I'll need to arrange time out and about for the stir crazy boys. Tim will be traveling to gen con for the better part of a week mid month, leaving us by our lonesome, and me juggling the jobs, the kids, and the homestead alone. The end of August also marks my birthday, another year older, and perhaps wiser. Here's hoping I survive to see it!

From: http://www.designformankind.com/2012/12/an-optimistic-planter/